Longmont police: Suspect sought in counterfeit case

Man suspected of using $1,100 in counterfeit $100s at three businesses

By Pierrette J. Shields Longmont Times-Call

Posted:
08/20/2013 03:59:10 PM MDT

Updated:
08/20/2013 05:37:47 PM MDT

(Longmont Police Department)

Police believe the man in this surveillance video still has been passing counterfeit $100 bills at Longmont businesses. The investigation is ongoing.

LONGMONT — Police are working to identify a suspect in a series of counterfeit bills used in Longmont last month.

Longmont Police Detective Steve Desmond said Tuesday that the man is visible on surveillance video from the Walmart on the 2500 block of Main Street.

Desmond, who investigates financial crimes, said the man went to the store July 19 and used four counterfeit $100s. He was with a woman and a baby. The couple also are suspected of using six counterfeit $100s to buy a computer from Office Depot the day before, Desmond said.

Another $100 bill was passed at a McDonald’s at 19th Avenue and Main Street on July 23. That bill matched the others found at Walmart and Office Depot, police reported. Desmond said the bills had an improvised security thread and watermark.

“I really don’t want to educate people on how they are making it because then we’ll have a lot more,” he said.

He recommends that businesses invest in machines that scan money in moments to detect fraud instead of counterfeit-detecting pens because the pens easily can be thwarted.

Desmond has worked with the U.S. Secret Service over the years to investigate cases of counterfeiting that have periodically cropped up around town. Bills in many denominations have been reported in that time and often only were discovered after the customer passed the bill and left. Each individual bill passed can be charged as a felony, no matter how small the denomination.

Desmond said two other fake $100s have been used in Longmont this year, but they were different from the recent ones.

He said aside from the three recent cases that he believes are all related, Longmont has had 11 other counterfeit reports in 2013. He said Lyons has had a few reports, but Boulder has not had any reported.